What would Rosa Parks do today?

If Rosa Parks was taking action against transit racism today, she likely wouldnt talk about segregated seating. Instead, she would be calling attention to disappearing service and unaffordable fares in communities that need transit the most.

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if Rosa Parks was taking action against transit racism today, she likely wouldnt talk about segregated seating. Instead, she would be calling attention to disappearing service and unaffordable fares in communities that need transit the most like Washington, DC, where WMATA has proposed fare increases and service cuts at Metro stations used primarily by minority and low-income riders.

She would be protesting the emergence of transit deserts in urban neighborhoods which make it all but impossible for working class African Americans to get to good jobs. In Monroe, LA, bus drivers, members of my union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, were using their cars to transport citizens to and from work because there was no bus service in lower income communities.

She would decry the disgraceful lack of concern for seniors and persons with disabilities who are relegated to the unreliable and sometimes dangerous paratransit service. In Atlanta MARTAs paratransit service, Mobility, was outsourced to a private transit company. The result was a decline in service with customers waiting up to two hours for a ride and missing doctors appointments.

She would ask why transit funding is being diverted to fancy new streetcars that ferry tourists around while transit-dependent people wait longer to ride a dilapidated bus run by a multinational company that cuts corners on labor and safety